Huge Drum-Shaped Speaker on Auto Advertises Theatre (Feb, 1931)
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1931
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Huge Drum-Shaped Speaker on Auto Advertises Theatre
THERE seems to be no end to the ingenuity of advertising men; they pop up everywhere with devices that attract attention by their novelty and ingenuity. An outstanding case in point is that of a Berlin advertising man who has rigged up a novel contrivance on an automobile that creates widespread gaping as it travels through the streets of Berlin. The car, shown in the photo at the left, has mounted on it a powerful loud speaker in the form of a huge drum, on the heads of which are painted the actors of the feature attraction. Announcements, music, etc., are furnished by a gramaphone hooked to the speaker. At night, the attractiveness of the device is accentuated by means of vari-colored lights arranged inside the drum. The driver operates the speaker.
The electric speaker was only invented in 1925, so this was quite a modern trick.
Comment by KentD — March 25, 2009 @ 11:36 am
Might not have been electrical. My friend’s got a Victrola (that will play Edison, 78, *and* normal records…), crank-operated, no electronics whatsoever. It’s LOUD!! There’s a lever in back that I think partially bocks some sound tube inside it to quiet it down, AND the doors to shut to quiet it further. You’ve got to close down both quite a bit for the volume to drop below “noisy party” volume levels to any sort of regular volume level. He says a few times when the power’s gone out, he’s lit a few candles, cranked up the Victrola, the neighbors all come buy to ask him if he still has power (improptu party!)
Comment by hwertz — March 25, 2009 @ 7:31 pm